Schools Pay Body Abolished
Thursday 28th October 2010
GOVE LEAVES SCHOOLS
AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN LURCH ONCE AGAIN
AS GOVERNMENT ABOLISHES PAY REVIEW BODY FOR 450,000 SCHOOL STAFF
SAYS GMB
Goveis wrong to say now that the SSSNB
isn't needed and he's wrong to abolish it before it's even had a
chance to put forward recommendations
GMB commented on the written ministerial statement by secretary
of State for Education Micheal Gove announcing that he
will abolish the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB). "
at the earliest opportunity" . He said this was because it "does
not fit well with the Government's priorities for greater
deregulation of the pay and conditions arrangements for the school
workforce" [see note 1]. The Teachers' Pay Review Body and all
other Pay Review Bodies have been retained by the new
Government.
The SSSNB was created only last year to make recommendations for
a new national pay and conditions framework for 450,000 school
support staff in maintained schools in England. It covers staff
such as teaching assistants, cover supervisors, pupil welfare and
support staff, bursers and school business managers, technicians
and site managers. The SSSNB is a statutory body similar to the
Teachers' Pay Review Body.
Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary for Public Services,
said: > " The Education Secretary who robbed communities of new
school buildings now steals fair pay from staff as Government
abolishes the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB).
Goveis once again creating chaos in our
schools system. This is another careless and shambolic decision,
following hard on the heels of the Building Schools for the Future
debacle. The disaster-prone Education Secretary recently had to
apologise to MPs and council leaders for issuing error-ridden lists
of schools affected by his cancellation of the Building Schools for
Future programme which is now the subject of a legal
challenge.
It leaves schools and local authorities exposed
to £200mworth of future equal pay
claims. Gove doesn't realise that
it'smore expensive and
more difficult for most schools to develop robust and
equal-pay-proofed terms and conditions on their own [see note
2].
Everyone except the Education Secretary acknowledges the
contribution of professional support staff like Higher Level
Teaching Assistants and cover supervisors to raising standards in
the classroom [see note 3].
The Tories and Lib Dems supported the SSSNB when they
were in Opposition. Gove is wrong to say now that the
SSSNB isn't needed, and he's wrong to abolish it before it's even
had a chance to put forward recommendations. These serial policy
mistakes will cost him before too long."
End
Contact: Brian Strutton, National Secretary for
Public Services on 07860 606137 or GMB Press Office 07921 289880 or
07974 251823
Notes to Editors:
1) Gove's Written Ministerial Statement on the SSSNB is
available here:
http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a0065939/written-ministerial-statement-abolition-of-the-school-support-staff-negotiating-body-sssnb.
2) On the equal pay bill for abolishing the SSSNB see Local
Government Chronicle, "Schools support staff costs could
rise", 7 October 2010:
http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/people/pay/schools-support-staff-costs-could-rise/5020129.article.
3) "The wider schools workforce, including teaching assistants
and learning mentors, is making a difference to pupils' learning".
Ofsted, "Workforce reform in schools: has it made a difference?",
26 January 2010:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Workforce-reform-in-schools-has-it-made-a-difference.